The quartet Wild Strawberries said they are most influenced by The Cranberries and Nirvana. Nineteen-year-old Fu Chuming sings and plays rhythm guitar. She studied dance at school.

Keyboard player Chen Shen said she is fascinated by African-American music. Huang Dongmei, a 19-year-old ethnic Mongolian, is the drummer and also studied dance when she was a child. The bass guitar is played by 18-year-old Zhang Na.

Fu said: "We are happy because we are working hard for the music. We are proud of making our own music and we stick to it without following others."

Lucky Road

Lucky Road's style is hard to describe. It is not folk or punk. Neither is it pop, heavy metal, Gothic or hip-hop. The band are slowly shaping their own unique style.

So far, their songs express conflicting emotions and sound very different from what most listeners are used to.

Singer Wu Hongfei said: "Overall, Lucky Road's music is independent, honest and natural."

Wu, of the Dong ethnic group, studied modern Chinese literature at Beijing's Tsinghua University, and has already had several short stories and poems published. She started to write songs in 1994 and had her own concert on the Tsinghua campus in May 1998.

"Sometimes I feel happy and sometimes not when I find I have not made progress but only wasted time and exhausted myself," she said.

"I have my own idea about music instead of following others or trend. I believe in my own sensitive heart and ears. I hope my sound will be remembered."

The band members are the two guitarists Geng Fang and Li Weiyan, drummer Tian Kun and bass player Jiang Rong. Jiang joined the band in July 2000, one year after Lucky Road were first set up.

The name Lucky Road expresses the band members' dream of getting on the road to luckiness and success. They say they know that happiness is far away - and surely harder to find than death.

"A Fish in Xiao Long's Room" is one of their most famous songs and is included in their compilation "Daughter," produced with the support of Paulay, BMG and China Records.

In 2001, they signed a contract with the Paulay Culture Group to record the eponymous titled "Lucky Road."

Long Kuan Nine

Vocalist, guitarist and composer Long Kuan started making music in 1995 and released his first single, called "Light," in 1997.

One year later, he was backpacking in Britain, where he formed his first punk band Mika Bomb. He was the band's guitarist and backing singer. In April 1999, Mika Bomb signed up with the independent international music label Grand Royal and its arts management company Sanctuary. After that, they released the single "Super Sexy Razor Happy Girls."

Following their second single "Heart Attack" and a tour of Britain, Mika Bomb took part in the Dutch-Japanese cultural exchange festival in the Netherlands in September 2000.

In January 2001, Mika Bomb contributed two of their songs to the album "We are A&C" released by the Dutch electronic band Arling & Cameron. Their third single "Hey Man" and their first album "The Fake Sound of Mika Bomb" were released by the Damaged Goods record company in July that year.

In September 2001, Long Kuan joined Arling & Cameron as a singer and guitarist and toured the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and other European countries.

In January 2002, he returned to Beijing, where he and Yu San formed the band Long Kuan Nine and started working on their first album. Their first public performance was in Beijing in April that year and attracted a lot of attention from the general public.

"We like making music without thinking whether it is a promising or prosperous job. We feel lucky and proud of forming a band to produce a band's sound," said Long Kuan.

Fall Insects

Ying Zi, the leading vocalist of the quintet Fall Insects, is a young and smart woman who can draw and write.

"Making music makes my life happy. I pursue the real happiness through music," she said. "I listen to music to be touched and I make music to touch my listeners."

Fall Insects' music is industrial but also aesthetically pleasing. Their songs are distinguished by strange lyrics and heavy throbbing audio effects.

Liu Fei of the Newbees Record Company said: "Their performances are powerful and energetic and they thrill the audience with their crazy looks." Liu's company released an album called "Flowers, Birds, Fish and Insects" with music produced by four bands. The "insects" of the title refers to the Fall Insects.

Ying Zi said: "Initially, we were greatly influenced by Marilyn Manson and the Nine-Inch Nails but, later, we developed our own style as we wanted - beautiful melodies, with bright timbre and natural rhythm."

Wuweidou

Wuweidou are five dou (beans) that love music and are totally into British pop. They are singer Xu Yang, guitarist Bei Bei, rhythm guitarist Du Bo, bass player Wang Xiaoxu and drummer Mu Wei.

They link the spirit and the energy of youth to their own way of listening to the world. They all hope to get their place in the sun to feel the fresh air, nature and original melodies. This is how they experience life and this is what their music is like.

Last year, they took part in the national contest "Selection of University Stars" and won second prize for North China as well as a prize for being one of the most outstanding bands in the overall finals.

(China Daily July 18, 2003)